This invention relates to optical displays and, more particularly, to an apparatus for receiving a plurality of two-dimensional images and for displaying a magnified three-dimensional image as a function thereof.
The realism and information content associated with three-dimensional images has led many prior investigators to develop varied techniques for displaying of three-dimensional images. However, for a number of reasons, especially complexity and expense, three-dimensional imaging has enjoyed only limited commercial acceptance. Equipment for displaying three-dimensional images, in addition to typically being complex and expensive, also generally has the drawback of having a relatively large size. For example, systems which project multiple images from different angles necessarily require substantial room to attain the desired optical effects. Other techniques, including holographic approaches, also typically require specific projection and/or viewing constraints, in addition to the need for optical coherence.
In recent years, fiber optics have been utilized to transfer, magnify, and/or display images. Typically, fiber optic systems employ large numbers of elongated filaments or strands of optically transmissive material which operate on a principle of total internal reflection. Light to be carried from one location to another enters the filament at one end and is internally reflected therein, even around severe bends, with reasonably high efficiency so that most of the light is available at the exit end of the filament. It is known that image magnification can be achieved by bunching the ends of a large number of optical fibers relatively close together at one location to form an input plane and separating the spacing between the other ends of the fibers at another reference plane, called the image output plane. In this manner, the image can be "spread out" or magnified by an amount which depends on the ratio between the fiber spacings in the input plane and the fiber spacings in the output plane. The described type of magnification and display system, while advantageous in some respects, generally tends to be cumbersome and difficult to manufacture which limits its applicability to even a two-dimensional display.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a three-dimensional display which utilizes fiber-optical technology, is not unduly cumbersome, and can be manufactured without undue expense.